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This 1949 Oldsmobile (Rocket) 88 was one of the best performing automobiles of its day due to its relatively small size, light weight and advanced overhead-valve high-compression V8 engine. (CCP Auctions)

A classic low-rider, this over the top customized 1964 Cadillac Coupe DeVille has more than $50,000 (US) worth of power train, interior and exterior upgrades, including a monster 1,000 watt sound system. The California multi-award winner and has graced two music videos. (CCP Auctions)

Powered by a 427 / 435 hp engine and finished in stunning silver pearl lacquer pain, this beautifully restored 1967 Corvette has achieved NCRS Chapter and Regional Top Flight awards, as well as numerous concours awards, most recently achieving the 2015 Canadian Council of Corvette Clubs prestigious Signature Concours Gold award. (CCP Auctions)

This 1970 Challenger RT comes completely restored from top to bottom by a group of people within Chrysler Corporation. Its replacement engine is a balanced and blueprinted 426 Hemi backed by a 727 Torqueflite automatic and a 3:54 geared Dana 60 rearend.
(CCP Auctions)

This 1956 Ford Sunliner convertible will be on the auction block in Mississauga next weekend. (CCP Auctions)

Classic car season may be winding down with the arrival of cooler weather but there’s still a warm place for auto enthusiasts to get their fix.

With about 300 vehicles going under the hammer at the Toronto Fall Classic Car Auction at Mississauga’s International Centre next weekend, there are plenty of vintage autos, muscle cars, luxury wheels, hot rods and exotics and motor memorabilia to ogle or bid on.

It’s as much an auto show as it is an auction.

And Shania Twain fans will be delighted to know her personally designed, Canadian-built 1999 Prevost tour bus, a Marathon Entertainer model described as a luxury condo on wheels, will be on the block.

Built at a cost of more than $1 million, it arrives from B.C. just in time for the auction after the final leg of the Canadian-born superstar’s “Rock This Country” final farewell tour.

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The three days (Oct. 30 – Nov. 1) of this fall classic car event—now in its 26th year—has attracted as many as 30,000 people over the weekend.

“Our fall shows draw a lot of people who are interested in seeing cars they might like to buy to work on over the winter,” said Terry Lobzun of Collector Car Productions.

“And for a lot of sellers this is the best time to sell their cars so they don’t have to store them over the winter. It’s all under one roof and it sure beats raking leaves,” he added.

Over the quarter century the classic car auction has been held, Lobzun said he’s seen cars go for as little as $500 for a fixer-upper to as much as $1.2 million for a ‘30s Duesenberg that sold there a few years ago.

Lobzun said classic car events, from shows, auctions, cruises nights and local show and shine gatherings continue to be popular with auto fans, ranging from kids and teens to their parents and old timers fondly looking back to their younger motoring days.

The popularity and variety of television shows about car restoration and antique and automotive hunters and pickers searching for automotive treasures are an indication of just how much interest there is in classic car events today.

“For collectors, ‘barn find’ is a magical term these days because it stirs up a big interest and although there’s still hundreds of cars out there, the really rare ones are getting harder to find because a car is only original once,” Lobzun said.

“Many cars that have been restored go for a lot of money because a lot of time, effort and expense have gone into the restorations.

“There are fewer and fewer of the original ones that have been put away and forgotten, so when they do get discovered they create a lot of interest and get incredible prices at auction,” said Lozbun. “And that drives the rest of the market.”

A recent Toronto-area barn find, a 1955 Nash Canadian, is a vintage car with a unique history in that its one of only 65 made that year. This full-sized postwar sedan was built in what was originally a Ford plant at Danforth and Victoria Aves., in Toronto’s east end.

Beneath the façade of the Shoppers World plaza’s department store, recently vacated by Target, sits the original Ford building designed by Albert Kahn, renowned American Art Deco industrial architect hailed as the “Architect of Detroit.”

Built in 1921 when Ford’s Windsor-area plants couldn’t keep up with the Canadian demand for Model T and A cars, the plant was used by Nash Motors to assemble various models there in the ’40s and ’50s.

“To have a story like that along with original ownership and documentation, like manuals and brochures and dealer information, along with photos from the past, is what makes it really special,” said Lobzon, adding. “That’s what people want.”

With a century’s worth of cars and trucks coming up for auction there’s something for everyone interested in vintage and antique cars and pickups, meticulously restored with modern upgrades, like a 1928 Ford Model A Tudor, 1938 Hudson Pickup, two stunning 1940 Fords,—a pickup and a coupe—a V12 powered 1946 Lincoln Coupe, 1946 Chevrolet Fleetmaster, 1949 Oldsmobile 88 Fastback, among the stable of early classics.

People also want modern classics, muscle cars from the 60s and 70’s like Mustang, Corvette, Camaro, GTO, Charger, Challenger and Baracuda, to name a few.

Besides all the cool wheels on display and on the block, there’s a memorabilia auction held Friday afternoon and Saturday morning where collectors can bid on vintage gas pumps, pop machines, juke boxes and game machines, as well as neon auto and gas related signs, and antique toy cars and trucks.

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